Samsung Galaxy S 4 manufacturing costs estimated, higher retail price

We saw yesterday what the retail price of the Samsung Galaxy S 4 would be at around $579, according to a sweepstakes. But, that number may not be accurate, and today we're getting some even more interesting numbers. iSuppli has done some preliminary estimates on the components of the Galaxy S 4 and what the manufacturing costs might be.

Apparently, after the reports circulated that the fine print on the sweepstakes put the retail value of the Galaxy S 4 at $579, Samsung has done some editing, and has changed the fine print to say the retail value of the phone is $640. Of course, the retail price is one thing, but the manufacturing costs are quite another.

iSuppli mixed together the known components like the Exynos Octa SoC with some educated guesses on other parts and has estimated that the HSPA variant of the Galaxy S 4, with the Exynos SoC has build materials costing $236, and an $8.50 manufacturing cost, putting the phone at around $244.50 to build. The LTE variant which has the Snapdragon 600 comes out slightly cheaper with build materials costing $231, and the same manufacturing cost, putting the total at around $241.50.

These are estimates of course, but should be pretty close to reality. And, that means that Samsung has put about a $400 markup on the phone.

52 Comments

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umm samsung....wtf!!!!
Now if you thought about it thats what it cost to build
but we dont know how many millions of dollars are spent to create the technology, so the $400 are for them to pay for their employees and to research and develop new technology
but like always the price drops after a few months
and i will buy the note 3 when its around $500
if that is it can run
Command & Conquer: Tiberum alliances
its an HTML5 game and it lags like hell on a galaxy s3
i wanna know how it will work on a galaxy s4, HTC One and a phone with nvidia tegra 4

Uhhh iphone 5 costs less around 207...and average cost is 800-900 some times 1000 dollar to crazy buyers ........that's roughly 600 mark up...for an inferior 1-2 year old tech claimed as "new" that doesn't even do half of the features that this particular phone does

24.Hemlocke (unregistered)

That "inferior tech" smacked the S3 in every way. Why do you think Samsung only waited 9 months to release the S4? The S3 was prematurely done, and Sammy needed something to stop the bleeding. What do you think will happen when the new iPhone comes out? Hell, the S3 was outsold by the 4S in 2012, let alone what the 5 has done.

5.Droiddoes (unregistered)

And software. And features. And options. And settings.
I have no problem paying Lexus prices for Lexus features (Samsung).
I have a huge problem paying Lexus price for Geo features in a Lexus body (apple)

16.papss (unregistered)

Did you just list multiple parts to software to make it seem like it cost them that much more?id rather pay for a Lexus that is feature rich and a good body.. I'm not rewarding a company that lazily designs their phones.

30.Hemlocke (unregistered)

What they fail to take into account are two major things: software development and economies of scale.

Android is free. Samsung doesn't spend a dime developing it, nor do they pay for it. They develop the ugliest and buggiest Android skin, TouchWiz, but that's it. Google does all the heavy lifting.

Economies of scale? Apple could build the S4 for less than $200. Nobody preorders and locks up components as early, as often, and in the quantities Apple does. Tim Cook is CEO because he built and maintained a peerless supply chain, and Apple has reaped the rewards. The difference in BOM and retail price between the iPhone and S3 are negligible, plus Sammy has 100 other phones on shelves and clearly outsells Apple overall. Yet Apple still manages almost 70% of mobile industry profits. That's no accident. All of their moves are focused, their entire lineup fits on a kitchen table, and nobody else approaches their level of organization and vertical integration.

Apple could build the S4 cheaper? First, they don't build anything. Second, until recently a lot of the bigger iphone components were provided by Samsung. On the international model, Samsung is providing all of the major parts, SOC, screen, memory, so how the hell is Apple going to beat that when they are dependent on outside sources for building materials. It doesn't matter how far ahead they buy or how much they order, they are buying from an outside source. Samsung is using it's own stock, that's always going to be cheaper.

11.SleepingOz (unregistered)

18.Hemlocke (unregistered)

Exynos is a mostly stock ARM design, whereas the A6 (and Krait) are completely custom because Qualcomm and Apple have ARM architecture licenses, whereas Samsung has a regular OEM license. AMOLED screens aren't developed by Samsung, they are built to spec from Universal Display IP. Try again.

38.SleepingOz (unregistered)

"AMOLED screens aren't developed by Samsung, they are built to spec from Universal Display IP."

Who are you kidding actually? Samsung is the largest AMOLED supplier. They might have not invented the OLED technology but they are the one who have bring OLED technology where it is nowadays! They have developed the AMOLED, SuperAMOLED HD(pentile/non-pentile, trashing a football field worth of display glass in order to get it right. If that's not money spent on R&D, what it is then? ), SuperAMOLED FHD and now, Flexible AMOLED coming soon.

Are pocketnow and phone arena this desperate for Samsung controversy that they would post this as Samsung contradicting themselves?

I work for an electronic giant and I do marketing research for them. My team and I get pressured for results in all areas, including how many people enter one of the contests we are responsible for. So when we put approximate retail value with an asterix, of course we are listing the highest possible price so that consumers think that they are entering the contest for something that is too expensive for them to buy, otherwise they would just buy it and find it easier than giving us their information or filling out a survey.

I can't speak for pocketnow, but there's no judgement here. We reported something yesterday, and that has changed, so we reported that as well. It happens to be info that goes well with new estimates on the cost to build. Simple as that. We're just passing along information. There's only controversy if you make one.

Admit it guys the S3 is just a load of hype built with a ton of feautures u barely use and are inadequate and the S4 doesn't make a difference...The only thing u will be upgrading to is better resolution and 13 MP camera...Plus who needs another phone that is not one handed user friendly

Apple makes $450 per phone and recycle the processors through the eco system of ios still churning a profit. Watch a7 in new iphone. Current a6 on iphone 5 will then be added to ipod mini and forthcoming ipods etc. And the cycle continues.

This is nonsense, just price of the parts and manufacturing costs doesn't decide price. What about the brand name, marketing costs, after sales support[ maintenance costs], some other miscellaneous costs!!!!

when S3 was released in UAE its price was 2,500 Dirhams ($679) S2 was 2,600 ($707) and i guess samsung will price S4 at 2,400 Dirhams ($652) which is close to $640!! so its a good price as both BB10 and xperia Z is 2,500 Dirhams ($679)!!

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